Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/354

350 convincing. It is the weighty expression of convictions felt, pondered over and matured. It precisely expresses the attitude of the generations that followed Darwin. No considerable body of men ever held it before that day. It delighted Castelli and a few of the more enlightened of Galileo's circle. His enemies received it with breathless, uncomprehending rage. They sought for flaws in the argument and, unhappily, they had not far to seek. For, not content with these general principles, Galileo went on to explain certain passages of scripture in a fashion that, at the best, was weak and unconvincing, almost disingenuous. The famous passage in Joshua, ‘The sun stood still in the midst of heaven (and hasted not to go down about a whole day)’ is expounded by first suppressing the words in parentheses, next by a wire-drawn argument to prove that Joshua's command was given when the sun was near setting (which disagrees with the words purposely omitted) and that ‘the midst of heaven’ does not mean the place of the sun near noon, but its central place in space among the planets. Hence, says Galileo, this passage actually demonstrates that the sun occupies the center of the world, and refutes Ptolemy. The plain meaning of the verse was distorted by a wilful suppression. It is said in the XIX. Psalm ‘The sun's going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it.’ Galileo explained this to mean that the sun is the nuptial bed, and the bridegroom coming out of his chamber rejoicing is the light of the sun—his rays—not the sun himself. There is not a shade of reason for this arbitrary interpretation. It is not convincing to us; it was abhorrent to his adversaries. Is it any wonder that they loudly proclaimed their intention to protect the words of the Bible from the profane interpretations of laymen? Into the quicksand of theological interpretation Galileo had no call to enter. He should have declined the controversy thrust upon him by his enemies on the simple ground that he was no more fitted to deal with theology than his adversaries with science. This was, however, not his belief, and he accepted their challenge. By so doing he quite nullified the effect of his noble stand upon general principles. Radical and bold as this stand was, he could have maintained it as Cremonini had maintained his own upon a similar issue. At this critical point in his career two roads were open. He recklessly, even presumptuously, chose the wrong one. All his tribulations are the result of this choice. In two letters of February 16 and March 28, 1615, Galileo, writing to Mgr. Dini, regrets that he has been forced to defend his system against religious scruples. In his letter to the Grand Duchess Christine he had said ‘the professors of theology should not assume authority on subjects which they have not studied.’ It never so much as crossed his mind that his own interpretations of the